Strandebarm is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The original municipality was large, spanning both sides of the central part of the Hardangerfjorden. It also included the island of Varaldsøy. Over time, the municipality was divided and by the time of its dissolution in 1965, it was . The municipality included land in the present-day municipalities of Ullensvang, Kvam, and Kvinnherad. The

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the municipality was the village of Bru, where Strandebarm Church is located. One of the larger industries in the municipality was

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

, centered at the village of Omastranda, where the company Fjellstrand A.S. is headquartered. The Norwegian writer Hans E. Kinck lived in Strandebarm for many years, and is said to have used the village as setting and inspiration for his novel ("The New Vicar").

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Strandebarm was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 January 1863, most (but not all) of Strandebarm located on the eastern shore of the Hardangerfjorden (population: 1,663) was separated from Strandebarm to constitute the new municipality of Jondal. This left Strandebarm with 2,200 residents. Then on 1 January 1902, the southern district (population: 848) was separated to become the new municipality of Varaldsøy, leaving Strandebarm with a population of 1,661. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1965, Strandebarm municipality ceased to exist. The district of Kysnesstranda (population: 100) on the east side of the fjord was incorporated into Jondal Municipality. The rest of Strandebarm (population: 1,545) was incorporated into

Kvam Municipality Kvam is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The municipality is located along the Hardangerfjorden in the traditional district of Hardanger. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Norheimsund. Other larger set ...

to the north.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the local Strandebarmsbukta bay (). The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of which means "

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

" or " shore". The last element is which means "rim", here referring to the area along the bay.

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council

The

of Strandebarm was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors

The mayors () of Strandebarm: *1838-1843: Niels Burggraf Tausan *1844-1850: Niels Landmark *1851-1853: Torbjørn Røyrvik *1854-1857: Caspar Kährs *1858-1858: Jens Andreas Holmboe *1858-1858: Niels Landmark *1858-1859: Nils T. Linge *1860-1861: Torbjørn T. Linge ( V) *1862-1863: Mathias Bonsak Krogh Holst *1864-1867: Nils T. Linge *1868-1871: Torbjørn T. Linge *1872-1875: Nils T. Linge *1876-1882: Arne Berge ( MV) *1882-1885: Lars Galtung *1886-1901: Amund Fosse *1902-1907: Thomas Enes *1908-1916: Johannes Ugletvedt *1917-1921: Haktor Dysvik *1921-1943: Håvard Berge *1943-1945: Peder Oma ( NS) *1945-1945: Johannes Riise *1946-1955: Kristoffer Kolltveit ( V) *1956-1959: Erling Bruhjell ( Bp) *1960-1964: Kristoffer Kolltveit ( V)

Notable residents

* Jon Fosse, author, playwright and

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

, grew up in Standebarm.

References

{{use dmy dates, date=June 2023 Kvam Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1965 disestablishments in Norway